The French serial killer Joseph Vacher lived from 1868 to 1898. The police believed he had killed at least 11 people. Vacher's victims were mostly young farm workers. It did not matter whether they were male or female.

1897 Vacher was overwhelmed during an attempted rape of a young woman in Ardèche. Her husband and her son handed over the serial killer to the police. This fact led to a three-month prison sentence. During his detention he confessed in a letter several murders. The psychologist Alexandre Lacassagne classified him mentally healthy. Joseph Vacher was given the death penalty after his trial. At the age of 29, he was executed in Bourg-en-Bresse with a guillotine.